Dave Odette | The Grand Rapids PressAction: Filming of "Caught in the Crossfire" takes place Sunday on the Sixth Street Bridge above the Grand River.

GRAND RAPIDS -- With the Sixth Street Bridge as a backdrop in the night, the bright lights of Hollywood once again came shining on Grand Rapids -- with an East Grand Rapids native behind the camera and a superstar rapper in front of it.

Cameras were rolling for the movie "Caught in the Crossfire," a film starring rapper 50 Cent and directed and written by Brian Miller, originally of East Grand Rapids.

With the set overlooking the Grand River, Miller shot several dialogue scenes featuring 50 Cent, who has a supporting role as an informant, and Adam Rodriguez ("CSI: Miami") and Chris Klein ("American Pie"). The latter play detectives trying to smoke out corrupt cops who are pitting two gangs against each other.

"My part in the film is condensed," said 50 Cent, secure in his trailer as crew members packed up equipment to move to another location. "It's an action-packed movie, but it's not always black and white. It has a lot of gray."

Dave Odette | The Grand Rapids PressSupporting role: 50 Cent, whose production company is backing the film, calls "Caught in the Crossfire" an action-packed movie.

The film is backed by 50 Cent's new production company, which he and his partner, Los Angeles film producer Randall Emmett ("16 Blocks," "Righteous Kill"), recently formed. "Crossfire" also is a product of Miller and Miller Films, which the director formed with producer R.D. Miller, no relation. The film is Brian Miller's directorial debut.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, also serves as an executive producer for for the film

Before filming on Monday, the rapper-actor played host to a close friend who drove in from Detroit to visit.

"Eminem came to see me today," he said with a smile. "It's funny -- he told me he stopped at a gas station and walked in and out, and nobody recognized him. You get to a certain level of fame where you don't want to be noticed. I like it (in Grand Rapids) because it's quiet enough that we can come out here and focus."

It's not the first time Eminem has visited his friend in Grand Rapids -- he made a surprise visit in 2003, when he joined 50 Cent onstage at a concert at the DeltaPlex.

No one may have noticed Eminem, but word quickly spread about Monday's filming, an event the 30-member "Crossfire" crew clearly wanted to keep under wraps. Onlookers stood by the riverside with cameras, hoping to catch a glimpse of the talent.

The crew began setting up a tent and several trailers in a parking lot on the east side of the bridge early Sunday evening, then began staging four cameras. The crew has been filming in Grand Rapids in recent days, but managed to keep a low profile until filming required closing the bridge. Filming took place Friday at J. Gardella's Tavern, 11 Ionia Ave. SW, and Sunday at Wilcox Park in Grand Rapids' Eastown neighborhood.

Sunday's scene was right next to a condominium building, allowing residents a bird's eye view of the action.

"Crossfire" arrives after actor Val Kilmer came to Grand Rapids last fall to shoot "The Chaos Experiment," which debuted in Grand Rapids earlier this month.

Brian Miller is a graduate of East Grand Rapids High School in 1993 and Grand Valley State University in 1999. His mother is a teacher in the East Grand Rapids district.

He said Grand Rapids was an obvious choice to film, even without the state's new incentives for filmmakers.

"It was our first choice. Visually, you can't get this in places like Los Angeles and New York," he said. "The people of Grand Rapids have really taken us in and really helped us a lot."

For the filming, the crew used an unmarked police cruiser and received help from the police department, which accommodated Klein and Rodriguez for a ride-along with a detective so they could research their roles. Miller said the staff hired many people from GVSU to help set up scenes in an effort to give back to the community.

"It's a gut-wrenching thriller," Miller said. "It's a hell of a cast we put together."

Miller added that two more "name" actors would fly in to Grand Rapids later, but he declined to identify them.

"Brian is doing a great job," said Rodriguez, who's squeezing the film into his down time between "CSI" seasons. "He knows the story inside-out. It's a short, three-week shoot, and he's making the most of what we've got."

"He wrote a great script," said Klein, as his 6-month-old German Shepherd puppy, Chief, roamed his trailer.

Dave Odette | The Grand Rapids PressOn the set: Adam Rodriguez, of "CSI: Miami" fame, has a role in the movie.

Klein previously worked with another East Grand Rapids native, screenwriter Adam Herz, on the first two "American Pie" films.

"I visited East Grand Rapids High while I was here," said Klein, who said he intends to visit Yesterdog, the hot dog restaurant in Eastown, a facsmile of which appeared in "American Pie."

50 Cent is best known as a recording artist whose albums "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" (2003) and "The Massacre" (2005)" both went multiplatinum. Recently, he has forged an acting career, starring in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" in 2005, "Home of the Brave" in 2006 and "Righteous Kill," starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, in 2008.

He'll marry his two careers in September, when he plans to simultaneously release new album "Before I Self-Destruct" and a movie with the same title. The DVD film will be packaged with the CD.

"I wrote, produced and directed it myself, so it's my fault if it's not any good," he joked.

He and Emmett also declared their intention to return to West Michigan in August for another Cheetah Vision production, a modern remake of "Jekyll and Hyde" with director Abel Ferrara ("Bad Lieutenant"). 50 Cent is slated to co-star with Forest Whitaker in the film, but Emmett wouldn't say what roles they will play.